If the Lord Redeems Atheists...

In response to Pope Francis' apparent statement that atheists can go to heaven, Stephen Colbert observes,

If the Lord redeems atheists all bets are off. What’s next? The Lord redeems Lutherans? It’s madness! I feel like a chump. … I’m just so glad Jesus didn’t live to see this.

Stephen Colbert

Quoted in "The 12 best Catholic quips from Stephen Colbert, the ‘pope of basic cable’"

The Spirit of Dialogue

Pope Francis I  continues to say things that progressive and moderate American Catholics must find gratifying and exciting.  He and his views are certainly not what was expected from the next pope when Benedict announced his retirement.  In a recent interview that Francis gave to the Italian newspaper, La Republica, as reported in a Huffington Post posting (here), he is quoted as saying,

Proselytism is solemn nonsense, it makes no sense. We need to get to know each other, listen to each other and improve our knowledge of the world around us. Sometimes after a meeting I want to arrange another one because new ideas are born and I discover new needs. This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas. The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good.

There could hardly be a better description of the spirit of dialogue, which is a process of listening, reflecting, sharing, and listening again aimed at closing the gap between individuals, classes, parties, and ultimately nations.  It lies at the heart of the political art of compromise and international diplomacy at their best.  The absence of this spirit of dialogue can have devastating consequences, as we are seeing now in Congress' abject failure to listen, reflect, share, and listen again.  On the other hand, a pope dedicated to dialogue is good news and is likely to have positive consequences for as long as Francis is pope—and beyond.  Amen.

The Small & the Large of It All

In a recent interview translated into English and published under the title, "A Big Heart Open to God," Pope Francis I reflected on what it means for a Jesuit priest to become the Bishop of Rome.  Asked how his Jesuit background helps him as pope, Pope Francis replied,

Discernment...discernment is one of the things that worked inside St. Ignatius. For him it is an instrument of struggle in order to know the Lord and follow him more closely. I was always struck by a saying that describes the vision of Ignatius: non coerceri a maximo, sed contineri a minimo divinum est (“not to be limited by the greatest and yet to be contained in the tiniest—this is the divine”). I thought a lot about this phrase in connection with the issue of different roles in the government of the church, about becoming the superior of somebody else: it is important not to be restricted by a larger space, and it is important to be able to stay in restricted spaces. This virtue of the large and small is magnanimity. Thanks to magnanimity, we can always look at the horizon from the position where we are. That means being able to do the little things of every day with a big heart open to God and to others. That means being able to appreciate the small things inside large horizons, those of the kingdom of God.

 Our tendency is to think of God in terms of largeness, as that which exceeds the boundaries of the universe and of reality as we understand it.  God's power, knowledge, and presence are thus virtually limitless.  Pope Francis' reflections remind us that there is another dimension to God, what we might almost call the quantum side of the divine.  God is small as well as large, close as well as distant, within as well as Beyond.

God resides in a touch, a song, and a flower.  God also resides in a spat, a disagreement, and an off day when nothing seems to go like it should.  And somehow the largeness of God and God's smallness, God's distance and intimacy, are both Present in the touch, the song, the flower, and the depressing moments of life.  Somehow.  The large is swallowed up in the small and the small magnified by the large.  Discernment of the way in which God resides in the small and large opens us to the possibility of becoming magnanimous, that is to live on a deeper spiritual plane beyond meanness, pettiness, and anxiety.  It means seeing God's closeness in such a way as to be drawn closer to God.  It does not mean gaining control of the divine or seeing "the true nature" of the divine.  It means being drawn in a direction beyond being in control and understanding.  What is small is magnified and made sacred.  What is large and inherently sacred is personalized and remerges in the world of the mundane, and we are "able to appreciate the small things inside large horizons, those of the kingdom of God."

What is & what should be "the news"

Today, and it breaks my heart to say it, finding a homeless person who has died of cold, is not news. Today, the news is scandals, that is news, but the many children who don't have food - that's not news. This is grave. We can't rest easy while things are this way.

Pope Francis I,

Address given in St. Peter's Square,

May 18, 2013

Culture of Encounter

The pope speaking on May 22nd

Source: Vatican Radio

In a papal address (summarized and quoted here) delivered on Wednesday, May 22, 2013, Pope Francis I made the following statement,

"The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! And this Blood makes us children of God of the first class! We are created children in the likeness of God and the Blood of Christ has redeemed us all! And we all have a duty to do good. And this commandment for everyone to do good, I think, is a beautiful path towards peace. If we, each doing our own part, if we do good to others, if we meet there, doing good, and we go slowly, gently, little by little, we will make that culture of encounter: we need that so much. We must meet one another doing good. ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’ But do good: we will meet one another there.” (emphasis added)

On first reading, many media commentators assumed that the pope was asserting the possibility that atheists can be saved without having to become Christians let alone Catholics.  More circumspect readings generally agree that he was not making such a blanket statement.  And the next day, Thursday the 23rd, a Vatican spokesman clarified the pope's position on salvation by saying that anyone who is aware of the Catholic Church and doesn't become a Catholic “cannot be saved” if they “refuse to enter her or remain in her.” (Quoted here)

What is worth noting in his speech, however, is the pope's concept of creating a "culture of encounter" between peoples of faiths and no faith.  He seems to be suggesting that we have the drive to do good created in us as part of our God-given natures.  We should nurture that drive in each other and use it as a point of contact for mutual understanding—for dialogue, that is.  It is not clear what his ultimate goal is in encouraging a culture of encounter grounded in good works.  The Thursday clarification would suggest that he still desires the incorporation of the whole of humanity into "the Church," which apparently means the Catholic Church.  The hope is that he is encouraging something else, which is a culture of pluralism based on understanding growing out of dialogue with each other.  Dialogue in this sense is more than discussions.  It is a process of listening, learning, and reflection leading to reductions in conflict and a growth in peace.

If Pope Francis' goal is to develop a "culture of encounter" as a subtle form of Catholic evangelism, he will fail.  It will become evident over time that his real agenda is aggrandizement rather than dialogue.  If, however, he seeks such a culture as a way to embrace pluralism to the end that ours might be a less conflicted, more peaceful world, he could well play an important role in fostering a more dialogical international atmosphere.  Time will tell.

Pope Francis and Protestant "Ecclesial Communities"

Francis I kissing feet of male & female prisoners

Source: CBC News

A recent AP article carries the headline, "Pope's Foot-Washing a Final Straw for Traditionalists" and provides a laundry list of the various things Pope Francis I has done that conservative and high church liturgical Catholics find "disturbing."  Benedict XVI restored some of the pomp of the papacy including the use of rich vestments and Latin in the mass, which gave the traditionalists hope of a 21st century counter-reformation of the reforms carried out in previous papacies.  The traditionalists attribute the decline of the Catholic Church in various regions of the world to the loss of traditional practices.  Francis evidently is bringing the traditionalist counter-reformation to an end.

From a liberal, low church Protestant perspective, thus, Pope Francis has made a good start.  He wears simpler garb and deports himself in a humbler manner.  On Maundy Thursday, he kissed the feet of two women, one of whom is Muslim.  He seems interested in reaching out to Islam, which evidently is especially worrisome for the traditionalists who fear that it suggests religious "relativism."  So, this is all to the good.

One can't help but continue to wonder, however, what the new pope's simple and humble approach means in other areas of church life.  In an earlier posting (here), I raised the question of his views on homosexuality, which are evidently less enlightened.  Protestants may well wonder, moreover, if he is going to affirm or change the Catholic Church's demeaning attitude toward Protestant local congregations, which in Catholic nomenclature are "ecclesial communities."  At present the official Catholic position is that Protestant congregations are not churches because Protestants have forfeited Apostolic succession and the sacraments as understood by the Catholic Church.  Pope Benedict reaffirmed this judgment on Protestant churches in 2007 (here).  If Francis does intend to open new avenues of dialogue with Islam, will he also bring a less demeaning attitude toward other Christians as well?  One wonders.

The point is not that we Protestants attain some kind of new status by having the pope recognize our churches as churches.  Our churches are churches in any event.  The point is that by changing the Catholic stance on the status of other sisters and brothers in Christ, he would further signal his intention to use every means at his disposal to reach the world with the good news of Christ.  He would open the door to greater ecumenical cooperation in facing the challenges facing our faith in the 21st century.  He would promote greater peace, understanding, and fellowship in intra-faith relations among Christians, which can only be a good thing.  But will he?  One wonders.

The Church & Charity

According to various media outlets, Pope Francis has begun his tenure as pope by calling for the spiritual renewal of the Catholic Church.  He has made the point that if the church does not return to its spiritual roots and its task of proclaiming Christ its risks "becoming no more than a charitable organization" (quoted here).  Mainline Protestant churches in the U.S. will do well to take his call for renewal to heart.  Many of our congregations have already drifted into the back eddies of functioning largely as charitable organizations.  Members do not cultivate personal lives of faith and the church does not promote personal piety.  Members do not know the Bible and do not work on articulating their own faith.  Sharing the gospel with others is, if anything, actively avoided.  These churches often do impressive amounts of good works, which is... well... good.  The problem is their charitable work seldom pumps new life into the body of Christ, which they are supposed to be.

The central task of the church is to teach and encourage a Christ-like way of life that includes worship, prayer, reflection, faith sharing, and carrying out acts of charity.  In all of this, the church has the urgent task of teaching its members to learn the spiritual values of silence, slowing down, and prayer & meditation.  These practices are the surest foundation on which to build lively worship, happy fellowship, and  strong Christian service.  Amen.

Acknowledging the Shift

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Pope Francis I

The election of an Argentinean  cardinal as pope simply acknowledges the reality of the fundamental shift taking place in global Christianity.  Over the span of 20 centuries, the demographic "heart" of the faith was first located in the eastern Mediterranean, but within a few centuries that center shifted to Europe, where it long remained.  Beginning in the 20th century, however, we have been witnessing a dramatic shift southward from Europe into Africa, Latin America, and Asia.  This shift actually began centuries ago when the Catholic Church and then Protestant churches engaged in  aggressive missionary campaigns around the world.  In a 2001 article entitled, "From Christendom to World Christianity: Missions and the Demographic Transformation of the Church," Prof. Andrew Walls concludes, "...there has been a century-long process of cross-cultural diffusion of Christianity with the Western missionary as a connecting terminal; and the most curious feature of the process is that during the period in which the Christian faith crossed cultural frontiers into African and Asian communities it lost its hold on much of the West."

The latest evidence of how even the United States, which remains significantly more religious that western Europe, is involved in this shift comes from data collected by sociologists from the University of California, Berkeley, and Duke University, which according to a news posting in the Huffington Post (here) shows that in the U.S., "the number of people who do not consider themselves part of an organized religion has jumped dramatically in recent years."  This is not even news anymore, but the election of Pope Francis I does provide further evidence concerning just how far the demographic shift southward has gone.  For Americans, his election also requires a reorienting of our usual social-political categories of liberal and conservative.  From what's been published thus far, it appears that Francis I is very liberal on social justice issues having to do with capitalism and the poor and painfully conservative on the question of homosexuality.  Catholicism frequently has a deep concern for social justice, and we can only wonder how long it will be until the Catholic Church finally learns to extend that heart to all of God's children.